Do You Believe in Paranormal Phenomena? (and a New Release)

by Kassandra Lamb ~ Do you believe in paranormal phenomena? Or not? Or do you teeter somewhere in between?

Non-believers will say that there’s no scientific proof that these phenomena are real.

But then again electricity existed, probably since the beginning of time, without any humans proving its existence. And people were electrocuted by lightning now and again.

In most cultures, such events were explained as the gods striking someone down for their sins, or to show they were angry at an entire village perhaps, if the victim was known to be an innocent.

Likewise, microscopic germs existed long before humans knew they were there. And they made people sick.

I’m an in-between teeterer myself, not sure if I believe in paranormal phenomena. On the one hand, I’m a psychologist, a social scientist. I firmly believe in the scientific method.

But on the other hand…

I’ve witnessed and/or heard about (from reliable sources) some pretty amazing events that were hard to explain in “normal” terms. Perhaps there are some things in this world that are quite real, and we merely haven’t discovered how they work yet, like germs and electricity for our ancestors.

One of the things I’ve personally experienced is the movement of energy within and between people. While I was still a practicing psychotherapist, I went to a training in Reiki energy therapy. I needed a couple more continuing education credits for my license renewal. And I was curious.

Reiki originated from Buddhism and was spread to various parts of the world in the late 1800s/early 1900s by Mikao Usui, a Japanese world traveler and student of history, medicine, philosophy, and world religions. He went on to teach Reiki to over 2,000 students and to treat thousands more.

It is believed that the aim of Usui’s teachings was to provide a method for students to achieve connection with the “universal life force” energy that would help them in their self-development. What sets Usui’s teachings apart from other hands-on healing methods is his use of reiju or attunement to remind students of their spiritual connection.

from wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikao_Usui

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I experienced this “attunement.” Indeed, it was the main thing the “training” involved, beyond a bunch of pep talks about how Reiki really works. Our bodies were “tuned” to a higher level of energy vibration.

Sounds pretty out there, doesn’t it?

I thought so at the time.

We sat in rows, behind desks, in a classroom. We were told to close our eyes and the two workshop leaders walked among us, putting their hands on our heads for a few seconds, one at a time. They did this twice during the two-day workshop.

When they did it the first time, I could feel the woman coming. Something shifted in the air behind me and I knew she was about to touch me. And she did. My scalp tingled for a few seconds, and then she moved on.

The second day, when I was now already more “highly tuned,” I did not feel her coming. I jumped a little when she touched my head. She explained that my body was now “vibrating at a level closer” to hers, so I didn’t feel the difference between her energy and my own.

Now one could say that what I felt the first day was a product of my own mind, the power of suggestion, even though I was skeptical.

But the second day, I was expecting to feel her coming, no longer skeptical… and I did not feel the shift in energy. Plus, some of the presenters’ stories seemed pretty convincing.

Hmm, interesting.

And ever since then, if I lay my hands on someone’s skin and imagine energy flowing down my arms and out my hands into them, my hands get warm.

And not just normal warm. They get warm enough that the other person notices, and sometimes even pulls away because my touch becomes uncomfortably hot.

Also interesting…

Like I said, I’m an in-between teeterer.

But my experience with Reiki makes me more inclined to believe in paranormal phenomena. Or at least keep my mind open to the possibility that what we see as paranormal today may actually be normal; we just haven’t discovered how it works yet.

Just as our ancestors didn’t understand lightning eons ago.

What brought all this to mind recently was a new release by Kirsten Weiss.

It’s Book 5 in her Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum series. In Book 1, her protagonist, Maddie Kosloski, has just moved back to her home town and is talked into taking over the running of the local paranormal museum.

This is rather awkward, because she doesn’t believe in paranormal phenomena.

There’s no such thing as ghosts, right? But then why does the cat she inherited with the museum, G.D. (For Ghost Detector), periodically freak out for no apparent reason?

What ensues is mayhem and sometimes misery for Maddie, but suspense, entertainment, and occasional laugh-out-loud moments for us, the readers.

This series was originally published elsewhere, but Kirsten has recently brought it under the misterio press umbrella, and now we are proud to announce the release of…

Damsel in a Dress, A Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum Mystery, #5

Bridesmaid duties can be deadly…

Maddie Kosloski has more than wedding cake on her plate. She’s managing her paranormal museum, helping her best friend Adele with wedding plans, and trying to prove that Adele’s vintage wedding dress is most definitely not haunted.

But when a bridesmaid turns up murdered, Maddie has to solve the crime to save the wedding. As her bouquet of suspects grows, and everyone’s alibis have the ring of truth, Maddie begins to doubt this wedding will go off without a hitch.

AVAILABLE Now at: AMAZON ~ APPLE ~ KOBO ~ NOOK ~ GOOGLE PLAY

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Posted by Kassandra Lamb. Kassandra is a retired psychotherapist turned mystery writer. She is the author of the Kate Huntington psychological mysteries, set in her native Maryland, and the Marcia Banks and Buddy cozy mysteries, set in Central Florida. She also writes romantic suspense under the pen name of Jessica Dale.

Misterio press produces an array of quality crime fiction. We post here twice a month, usually on Tuesdays, to alert you to new releases, to entertain, and to inform.

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